Rent at 5th Ave lives up to the hype

When put into song, numbers are really memorable. Everyone that remembers the ‘80s will know that Jenny’s phone number is 867-5309. Or more correctly, eight six seven five three oh nine-e-ine. Another number that gets stuck in the head is 525,600. From the musical Rent, that is how many minutes there are in a year.

Playing at The 5th Avenue Theatre through Aug 19, Rent lives up to the hype. The 5th Ave cast gives an amazing performance in a story following a group of bohemians in New York’s East Village for one year during the height of the AIDS epidemic.

If you have ever lost a loved one to AIDS, this is your show. Originally opening in 1996 during the height of the AIDS epidemic it showed the different faces of the disease proving that it was more than the “gay plague.” The audience is treated to more than just different people with AIDS, but also in different phases of dealing with it.

Not everyone has accepted the fact they need to make the most of the time they have left. Or at least the 525,600 minutes represented on stage in one night. There is love, loss and more than a few laughs. And for the perceptive, and underlying message, anyone can get AIDS. Hopefully, this will remind people that AIDS still exists. Even though the length and quality of life has increased in those diagnosed, there is still no cure.

If you like superb acting or spectacular singing, this is for you. Anyone with a personal connection to the AIDS virus should go see this production. And should probably stop reading here.

But for those that like to leave a performance and discuss it this isn’t for you. If you are like me and can’t shut the brain off for a minute, you might not enjoy the musical that much.

It isn’t the actual performance, it is the story itself. It just doesn’t hold up after 16 years. In 1996 they are a ragtag group of free spirited bohemians sticking it to the man by squatting in a building owned by a rich sellout. In 2012, they are a bunch of slacker hipsters that refuse to work even when offered well paying jobs and live with a sense of entitlement. When you are stealing power and can’t eat, getting offered a job is a Godsend it does not make you a sellout.

The group fights the establishment even when it doesn’t make sense. “We won’t accept your keys to the building and offer to live rent free. Instead we are going to break in and not pay rent!” When you think about it, that isn’t really fighting “the man.”

Other characters are not very sympathetic. I know that I am supposed to see a free spirit, but all I saw was a junkie shooting up onstage, some couples are incredibly dysfunctional and I am sure I am supposed to think about how damaged a character is, but I keep thinking “You know you have AIDS, have you told the person you are having an affair with?” No one, not even distasteful characters, deserves to be infected with HIV.

In the end, there are aspects of the story that do not hold up well over time. For those with a personal connection to the AIDS epidemic, those points will be overlooked. But for those that like to deconstruct a performance after it is over, there are too many holes to find. Fortunately, there are other things that distract. There are not many stand out performance because too many performance are fantastic each for different reasons. It kind of makes them hard to compare. And there are some positive characters. The relationship between Tom Collins and Angel is pure magic. When you are down on your luck, what could be a better offer than someone telling you that they will take care of you if you just repay them with 1,000 kisses?